


the dawn is not distant, the night is not starless

by mattholomuse



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, McGenji Week 2018, Mutual Pining, Pre-Recall, but mostly its about the evolution of their relationship and parallels between the past and present, jesse blushes a lot. a LOT. a lot. just a whole fucking lot ., please excuse the weird breaks in the fic. i messed it up but its fine its cool, there are brief scenes of violence & discussions of trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-21 20:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15565941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattholomuse/pseuds/mattholomuse
Summary: mcgenji week 2k18 day 1 - moon/sun





	1. the stars up close

**Author's Note:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 1 - moon/sun

"Did you know that most of the stars we see in the sky've died a long, long time ago?"

"What? No. That doesn't make any sense," Genji responded, huffing in disbelief. "If they died a long time ago, how can we see them?"

Jesse smiled. "Take it with a grain of salt, I s'pose, but you know that thing they say about people and places you've lost, that they're always with you no matter what, until you decide you don't need them anymore? I s'pect it's a little like that."

"People and stars are two different things, Jesse McCree," Genji teased, nudging Jesse's thigh with the metallic ball of his knee. "I thought you of all people would know that. I guess that _Star Wars_ doesn't teach you everything."

Jesse rolled, the grass rustling around his shoulders and tickling the skin just below his ear. He smiled at Genji, and Genji turned his head to face him; his lovely head, with its thick raven-feather hair and scarred smile and those beautiful eyes. Jesse loved Genji when he wore that half-mask, and he loved him when he didn't.

"I thought _you_ would know that people and stars are sometimes like this." He pressed two calloused fingers together. "And that sometimes, stars live in people. Did you know that, Genji?"

Genji cocked a thick brow. 

"I don't think that's how it works."

Jesse laughed. "You don't have to. But I do, 'cause whenever I see you I feel like I'm looking at the most beautiful sky that ever existed."

Pink spread over Genji's cheeks. "Agent McCree, you very well might be the greatest flatterer I've ever known."

###### 

"Aw, hell," Jesse breathed. He gripped his arm as if it would somehow stem the pain, and when he realized it wouldn't do a damn thing he pulled it away. Blood dripped from his fingertip onto his chest. He scowled.

"Can't catch a goddamned break, can I?"

He hadn't been able to catch a break since the Venice Incident. Before that, even - maybe he had never been able to. God knew his luck as a kid had been about as good as maggot-infested water.

God knew how flimsy his luck was now. Flimsy, and cracking.

"What do you want from me, dammit?" He demanded, the words catching deep in his throat and scratching on their way up. "Who the hell are you? Are you here for my bounty, is that it? Are you here to cut my head off? Huh?

"Take what the posters've told you with a grain of salt! I'm doing what's right!"

Jesse's chest heaved, losing the battle against his sinking stomach with every rocky breath.

"I s'pose that's what you think you're doing, too. Fine. Just... make it quick. And don't think I'll go without a fight."

The shrouded figure cocked its head like a curious kitten, and tucked their bloody dagger into a fine leather sheath. At a distance, Jesse made out faint, looping etchings. _Expensive_ , he thought. They stood up straight, radiating an overconfident aura that reminded Jesse of someone, that prevented him from whipping his gun from his belt and pulling the trigger.

"McCree?" said the figure. Jesse narrowed his eyes.

"Thought you knew that," he said slowly, the words rolling haltingly off his tongue.

A man didn't attack another in the middle of nowhere without good reason. A bounty was a damn good reason, the only one Jesse could rightly imagine. He dug his fingers into the gash on his shoulder, metal skidding over bloodstained flesh. Maybe his serape would have buffered the hit. He had left it at the hotel, he'd only intended to have himself a drink.

"I should have," the figure continued, taking one step, then two, and soon trotting toward Jesse at an alarming speed, gait easier than the blood sprinkling them might have suggested.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_ there." The figure halted.

"What the hell do you want from me? Who did you think I was?" Jesse prompted.

"Thought you were a man I saw mug someone back in town. Similar shirt, similar hat." The figure's voice was almost... soothing. It had a muffled, metallic tang to it. The scarf that encased their head shielded their face from sight, and most of their body was hidden beneath dark clothing.

"As for what I want from you..." The figure pulled their scarf, and it unwound easy as butter slid over a hot pan. The man's whole head was encased in a metal shell that glinted beneath the blazing sun. Even so, Jesse knew he was smiling.

"A kiss would be perfect, Jesse McCree," Genji said with a grin like a devil.

###### 

"What if it's not just flattery?" Jesse asked, mouth quirked into a mischievous smile. "Say I'm not just trying to make you feel good about yourself. Say I really, truly mean it. What would you do then?"

There was a stretch of silence, punctuated by the chirp of crickets under a star-spattered sky. They reflected in Genji's dark eyes. It was easy for Jesse to believe that he was looking through windows into another sky, one that mirrored his own without mimicking it so closely that Jesse ever wanted to look away.

"That isn't a light question," Genji murmured.

Jesse gripped a cybernetic hand, squeezing until he knew that Genji felt him.

"I know."

"I would... I would be... elated, if that does it justice. I would be... delighted. But Jesse..."

His smile broadened, then wavered. "Yes?"

"I can't do something like this right now. I would love to love you as more than an acquaintance or coworker or friend, but I worry that I am not whole enough. Not for you, and certainly not for me," Genji said, his voice softening with each word. They stang, each one a little jab with the whetted edge of a small blade.

"I understand," Jesse said after swallowing his disappointment. "Well, I'd love to be your friend just as much. Long as I get to see that star living here-" His thumb met the plastic over Genji's heart, modified but very, very real. "-I'm good as gold."

Genji hesitated only briefly before cupping Jesse's hand. 

"Thank you, Jesse," Genji whispered.

Jesse's hand rolled, catching Genji's fingers between his own and squeezing gently.

"No," Jesse replied. The night sky in Genji's eyes twinkled. "Thank _you_. I always wondered what it'd be like to see the stars up close."

###### 

By time the sun set and the moon took its place, Jesse and Genji had settled back at Jesse's dingy hotel room, where Genji had wrapped the wound with the declaration that it looked worse than it was.

"Speak for yourself," Jesse grumbled, shifting on the end of the bed. "It hurts like hell."

"Ah, a lot of things do." Genji grinned. His mask sat on the nightstand, granting Jesse his first look at Genji in years.

He was still scarred, he would be for as long as he lived and beyond that, but he looked... content. The raging fire Jesse remembered from their time in Blackwatch had cooled. What Jesse saw now was a hearth- homely, happy.

There were greys in Genji's raven-feather hair now, silvery strands that poked from his temples and peppered his head like cat's whiskers. Jesse wondered if they would be more noticeable if Genji allowed his shadow of stubble to grow out, and self-consciously ran his metal fingers through his own greying beard.

"You look... different," Jesse said slowly. "I... I mean, I'm happy that you look happy, but you look so... It's so..."

Genji laughed. His synthetic fingers traced the curve of Jesse's cheekbone from ear to lip, where a rubbery thumb paused, holding Jesse's warmth against his mouth. Heat prickled the tips of his ears.

"I know. I'm happy now. Content, at the very least," Genji replied. "I have made peace with who I am and what I have been through. But you probably know that. Have you been reading my letters?"

Jesse wrapped his hand around Genji's fingers, pulling them from his mouth back to his cheek. Wary of spooking the man he remembered, he traced Genji's knuckles with a gossamer touch.

"If you've sent me anything these past few months, I haven't had the chance to get to 'em. But yes, I've read. Most of them I've read more than once. But I just... reading and holding are different things, ain't they?"

Genji stroked Jesse's cheek, a small smirk upon his face. "Yes, they are."

"Don't get smart with me," Jesse scolded, playfully shoving his metal hand into Genji's chest. Genji caught it before all five fingers could land. He tilted his head, turned the hand over and back, then looked up, brows elevated.

"Jesse?"

"Yes?" Jesse responded nervously.

"Would you like to go and look at the sky, for old time's sake? The moon is full tonight."

Jesse let out a breath of relief and smiled weakly. "Yeah, of course. You know I never cared much for the moon, though, yeah? I was a star man myself."

Genji's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "I know. But I would like to compare."

"Compare what?"

"And now Genji's expression turned smug, his eyes sparkled, and he said:

"You and the moon, Jesse, see which one of you shines brighter."

Jesse coughed into his hand, a flimsy attempt to cover his cheesy smile. "Ain't you the biggest flatterer I've ever met."

Genji patted Jesse's arm. "You don't know how hard I try."


	2. a dance on the rocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 2 - song/dance

Genji stood different now. It was a strange thing to notice, maybe, but Jesse could not help but to notice it. Where once he had stood stiffly, braced for action, he now allowed himself to slouch, to soak in the heat of the desert like a cat in the sun.

He had changed out of his dark clothes - which he had justified as being "for hiding," because it was hard to remain in the shadows when you were sheathed in shiny silver plating - into a more casual flannel shirt and jeans. _Jesse's_ flannel shirt and jeans, the only outfit he had besides the one on his back.

"I was told this was a high class bar," Genji said, a note of amusement ringing in his voice. "Why, this looks like a dump."

Jesse snorted. "Give it a chance, rich boy. The booze is good. They have one of those... what are they called? Sommeliers, but for beer."

"Is that a thing?"

"What? Beer sommeliars? Probably not, but I can't find another word for 'em," Jesse admitted with a shrug, to which Genji snickered and bumped his elbow against Jesse's, metal against metal. Genji's eyes darted to the source of the noise, before returning to the rundown bar.

"Well, I can't guarantee I'll be able to taste any of it, but I can certainly give it a go. Do they have whiskey?"

Jesse barked a laugh. "Ha! Do they have whiskey. Wouldn't've come here if they didn't!"

Genji grinned and grabbed Jesse's hand. If ever he were asked, Jesse would not be able to recall entering the bar, only sitting before it holding Genji's hand under the counter.

_I have to take a shower,_ he thought desperately, _my cheeks are starting to itch._

Damn hotel shower couldn't scrub away a blush though, could it?

_Not a blush. Just a tickle._

"Bartender!" Genji called cheerfully, to a decidedly not-cheerful bartender. A pair of icy blue eyes fixed on the two of them and narrowed to catlike lits, an effect enhanced by the purple smudges beneath. "Two of your finest whiskeys!"

"Right."

"Neat for me," Genji continued. He looked at Jesse.

"On the rocks. Thanks."

Jesse smoothed his hair back, only for an unruly tuft to fall disobediently back over his eye. He lifted his hand to swipe it away, but a padded palm passed over his eyes and Genji tucked the stray lock behind Jesse's ear, stroking it with his thumb as he pulled away. Jesse's cheeks continued to itch.

"I said the whiskey here was good, not that you had to order like we were at a 5-star restaurant," Jesse teased.

Genji rested his elbow on the counter, propped his chin in his hand, and said: "I know. I want you to feel spoiled tonight, Jesse. We're in a bar in the middle of nowhere after leaving a hotel that had a dead roach in the tub. I can tell that you're not living large, nor that you're in any position to, but-"

The corner of Genji's mouth twitched up into a reckless smile, but genuine concern darkened his eyes.

"-I would like it very much if you could feel like you were. Even if only for now."

It seemed a strange statement to make. Genji had always been an openly strange man, though, something Jesse admired from the start. Jesse himself hadn't exactly been a normal kid, fatherless and awkward as he was, and he had struggled to embrace it for a long time. Looking at Genji now, wearing Jesse's shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Jesse felt as if he'd been hugged.

Everyone needed a little weird in their life, be it cowboy, ninja, or an intersection of the two.

"Thank you. I... it means a lot to me."

Jesse looked straight ahead at the wall of old bottles, glasses, and mugs. Many wore a thin film of dust, and looked as if they hadn't been touched in a very long time. There were several discontinued brands, a few event logos, even a bottle shaped like a Christmas ornament. That one made Jesse laugh.

"I know we've only been reunited for... a day and a half, I suppose, but I get the feeling that life's been hard on you since... Since. I want to help you, same as you helped me. But I worry that things have changed. I worry that you don't want to be my friend anymore. That you liked the version of me you knew before the letters and before now. And that's fine!" Genji added quickly, waving a hand through the air. "Even if it scares me. I just have to know, Jesse... are you... are you... how much did you leave out of the letters?"

"Pardon?"

"When I found you... you expected me. Someone _like_ me, in any case. A bounty hunter. I had assumed you'd had some run-ins, but I didn't realize they had resulted in something so... extreme?"

He had not thought he would ever see Genji again in person, let alone have to explain all the things that had changed since Blackwatch. Jesse wasn't the same person. He wasn't whole, physically or emotionally. He wasn't Agent McCree. He was barely Jesse McCree, son of the greatest woman on earth, taken in by one of the most influential men of his time. He was just Jesse, and sometimes even that felt like a stretch.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay, Jesse?"

Silence. A soft country tune crackled over the bar's speakers. Jesse closed his eyes, tight at first, then loosely, so the bar's sickly yellow light shone dimly through his lids.

"That's a hard question," Jesse said quietly. "That I don't quite know the answer to."

They fell into a lull. The bartender returned with their drinks. Jesse took a great gulp of his the moment the grass struck his palm. Genji sipped.

The axles in his jaw creaked. When Jesse looked up, Genji shrugged.

"Drink's cold," he said simply, and they returned to their silent vigil.

Several songs played in their static entirety as the glasses emptied. Most of the songs were country, one a surprisingly upbeat tune belonging to a genre Jesse couldn't pin.

"Lucio, I think," Genji mumbled into his glass. Unsure whether that was intended for him, Jesse didn't respond.

Another few songs, each one increasingly more peppy. Jesse bounced his heel on the stool's supports as he received his second drink. Next to him, Genji watched, curious eyes pricking the side of Jesse's face.

"Genji?" Jesse asked, swiveling in his seat.

"Yes?"

"Is this a dance song, or is it just me?"

A grin stretched over Genji's lips. "Yeah, I'd say that it is."

 

###### 

"You can play guitar," Genji stated, his curiosity limited to his eyes. They glinted red in the dark, something that had spooked Jesse for a while before he'd warmed up to the guy.

"Barely," Jesse replied with a shaky laugh. "I mean... my Ma played a little, her Ma made the things, but I... No, no, I'm not very good at all. I have it 'cause it reminds me of home, is all."

Genji cocked his head, wires knocking against his plated shoulder as he moved. "Do you miss your mother, Jesse?"

He blinked, blindsided by the question. Did he miss his mother? Every day, but he was a grown man now. He could write, and he didn't. At this point it was on him.

"I guess," he said slowly. "Why?"

"I miss my father. And my mother. And my-" Genji's voice cut off with a sharpness human tones did not wholly allow. "I miss my father most of all. When I was a boy, he would buy me everything I asked for. Stuffed animals, those battery-run hovercars, a game cabinet. He used to give me a bucket to carry down to the local arcade. He would say, _Now, little sparrow, keep some in savings,_ and he would wink and herd me off.

"When I was ten I started taking that advice. Every time I asked for money, I would slip some of it into my piggy bank. I dyed my hair bright green when I was eleven. My br- Hanzo told my that father would be angry with me, coming home looking like a fresh grown cabbage."

Jesse smiled, small and tender. Genji did not speak often of his childhood, it was an honor to be trusted with it.

"Was he?"

Humor shimmered behind the red of Genji's eyes.

"For a minute. He asked me where I got the money for it, and I said I had put my arcade money into savings. Then he laughed. And he told me that he was proud of me, even if I looked like a mutated carrot," Genji concluded.

"Your father sounds like he was a good man," Jesse said. Genji turned, stretching his hand toward Jesse's guitar to trace the strings.

"I don't know that I agree. He was a criminal, we all were. But he loved me and he loved Hanzo, and that was all a kid could ask for," answered Genji, voice soft. "And then I lost him. I was fifteen. Hanzo was eighteen. Things were fine for a while, until they weren't."

Jesse knew the rest of the story. Genji grew up, Hanzo grew cold. Genji contacted Overwatch, and a few years later he was found in tatters. At the time, Jesse had been too occupied with his own demons to pay much mind to it all. But here they were now, Genji sitting across from him in his dark room, plucking the strings on his mother's old guitar.

"Genji."

"Yes?"

"Hand that to me."

Genji blinked. "The guitar?"

"Yeah. I want to play you a song. It'll be bad and my singin' is awful, but I think you need it," Jesse said. And Genji laughed. He actually laughed, short and sweet but a laugh no less.

"Fire away, dead shot."

 

###### 

The only other body in the bar was a hooded drunk slouched in the corner, threatening on a good day but lacking any such intimidation looking like they were unconscious or maybe dead. It was a hard tell, and with Genji on his chest, it was hard for Jesse to focus long enough to bother guessing.

Before meeting Genji and before losing his arm, Jesse would've assumed a man's cybernetics were cold to the touch. The truth was the opposite; at any given moment, Genji was warm, almost unbearably so in the desert's daytime heat.

In a cold bar with no space between them? It was perfect, and Jesse's heart fluttered.

"Cowboy boots aren't made for dancing, are they?"

"Hey! I'm a fine dancer! I'm just a little tipsy, 's'all."

"Mhm."

"Don't _mhm_ me, Genji," Jesse scolded, tapping Genji lightly on the nose. Genji's swallowed a shoulder-rattling laugh before it could burst free. "I was in Blackwatch for a reason! I'm quiet as a mouse, light as a cat. You were there!"

"I was," Genji said calmly. "I was there when you wore spurs to every important mission we were assigned to."

Jesse blushed. "I did it to challenge myself."

"After the first time, yes. According to Commander Reyes, the first time you just forgot to switch your boots and decided you liked the rush of nearly being shot eighty times," said Genji. "I've no way to verify that without the rest of Blackwatch's confirmation, but I remember you telling me how you were before I settled in, and I believe it."

Jesse swallowed hard, the lingering burn of whiskey strong on his tongue. He smiled quiveringly.

"Aw, shucks. You know the rules: no verification, no proof."

A giggled bounced around in Genji's chest. A genuine giggle. The old Genji had rarely laughed, let alone _giggled_. The sound sparked a brilliant warmth in Jesse's gut.

Then Genji's head bumped Jesse's collar, and that heat burst into an inferno that engulfed his heart and warmed his tongue. He knew now that the itch in his cheeks was a deep blush, and that it was spreading with each slow step he and Genji matched.

"I missed you," he murmured into Genji's hair. It tickled his throat just above his Adam's apple.

"I missed you, too. Thanks for the first dance I've had in years."

Jesse's heart clenched.

"It's not a problem, pumpkin. I always love a dance."

_Just as long as it's with you._


	3. timeline of scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 3 - reunion/recovery

"So, about these bounty hunters..."

"Yes?"

Genji walked at Jesse's side, helmeted head shining under the evening sun. He still wore Jesse's flannel, a fact that continuously floated to the front of Jesse's brain to remind him... of what? He hadn't worked out why his brain thought this fact was so vital.

"Two questions."

"Go on, sweet pea."

A small, almost-laugh came from Genji's direction, and Jesse found himself struggling to hide a smile. 

Genji tossed a glance over his shoulder. When he turned back, it was with a thoughtful hum.

"Right. Well, first of all, what have you done to deserve them?"

"Vigilante work. You know, showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time and making it the right place at the wrong time, if that makes sense," he answered, shoving a rock with the toe of his boot.

"Mhm... next to none."

Jesse snorted in amusement. "Sorry. I was saving people by doing bad things. Still am, when I can, but it's harder to pull of when you've got a bunch of hunters up your rear."

"Ah, I see. So you were being a big, heroic idiot?" Genji teased. Jesse rolled his eyes.

"I reckon so."

Even in the evening, the heat was almost unbearable. It was far from Jesse's favorite weather, and he found himself missing the cool shade of New Mexico's mountains. He had gone on many a hike as a child, hauled behind his aunt and her wife, who had loved camping no matter the weather. Back then, it had been agony. Today it was a distant dream. 

"Second question."

"Yes?"

"Do you know of any hunters in particular? I mean, have you seen any faces? Would you be able to recognize any if we ran into them?" Genji asked, his tone much lower than what Jesse was used to. Unnerved, Jesse halted.

"One. But I don't... why do you wanna know?"

Genji peered over his shoulder, shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, then took a half step closer to Jesse.

"To be honest, Jess, I thought I heard your name back in town, before I ran into you. I dismissed it, I didn't think you would actually be in the area, but I... I worry now. At the bar I felt... watched," Genji said quickly, quietly. "Now that we're out in the open and your arm is... Erm, well, your arm is a bit beat up- Sorry about that."

"No problem," Jesse answered with a wave of his hand. "You thought you heard someone talking about me? Where? When?"

Genji tugged on Jesse's sleeve, pulling him close and turning him the way they had come. There was nothing on the horizon but brush and the distant twinkle of stars waking for their nightly shifts.

"Look."

Jesse cast a concerned glance at Genji, then turned his gaze back to the horizon, a frown etched deep into his face. There was nothing that he could see at first glance; raggedy shrubbery, yellowing patches of grass, a tree or two, and the sky.

He listened, and he heard nothing but crickets, the wind, the scratch of sand over sand.

He peered at Genji out of the corner of his eye. "There ain't nothing there."

"By the tree," Genji said.

Jesse squinted. Still nothing.

"Genji, I don't see-"

_BANG!_

Pain tore through his shoulder with such force that he found himself in the dirt, Genji yelling over him.

Jesse touched his hand to his shoulder. It came away bloody.

_Twice in one week. That's got to be a new record._

"Stay down, McCree!" Genji shouted. "I'll handle this!"

_You ain't gonna give me much of a choice, Genji._

###### 

Blackwatch had made a habit of turning small problems into big ones. Even those that remained self-contained, that didn't alert so much as the neighbors, had a tendency to go awry. At each of their cores was an agent with a taste for trouble.

This time, it was Genji.

Jesse waited impatiently in the mess hall, drumming his thick fingers against the tabletop in an unfathomably skewed rhythm. How long he sat there, he couldn't be sure. He knew that it was a while - Captain Amari, who always had an early lunch, came and left, and Lieutenant Reinhardt, who was partial to a later lunch, was in and out without a word. He must not have seen Jesse, or he would be talking up a storm just now.

At one point Jesse watched Strike-Commander Morrison disappear into the kitchens and return chugging something out of a thermos. His ice-chip eyes darted about, settling briefly on Jesse before he scurried away.

His stomach rumbled, Jesse could not tell if it was nerves or hunger. He would not eat until he knew Genji had returned safely.

 _But why should I care?_ He wondered. _You barely know him. He probably doesn't even consider you a friend anymore. You're just... more of a friend than anyone else. But you're not a_ friend.

 _That doesn't make sense,_ he scolded himself. _Chin up, McCree._

No news arrived until late evening, at the exact moment Jesse made up his mind to go and pace in his room like a proper adult.

Heavy footsteps approached from behind, pausing just before a pair of padded knees tapped his spine.

"Genji's en route," Gabriel said. He set a gentle hand on Jesse's shoulder before he could rocket to his feet. "And he's fine. Got a little bit of a boo-boo on his face, but other than that he sounds peachy. Promise me you won't overwhelm him?"

Jesse sighed in faux exasperation. "Yeah, yeah, I won't push him. I just want to say hi, welcome him back... you know."

There was a grin on Gabriel's face. Jesse couldn't see it behind him, but he knew it was there, could feel its smug aura. The hand on his shoulder squeezed just hard enough that he could make out the outline of four calloused fingertips.

"I do," Gabriel responded. He rounded the bench and sat at Jesse's side, hands now folded on the table before him. He looked alarmingly grey.

"Why'd you say it like that? You feeling alright, boss?"

"It's nothing. Caught a bug, that's all." Gabriel waved his grey hand dismissively. "And I meant what I said. I know how you feel, I used to be the exact same way when I was your age. A little younger, if I'm being honest. Much more handsome."

Jesse kicked Gabriel's ankle under the table. Gabriel laughed.

"Stop it. What time's Genji coming back?"

"Oh, I was absolutely _smitten._ A hopeless romantic, really, falling head over heels for a man who bleached his hair obsessively," Gabe said. "I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?"

Jesse blinked, cheeks bright red, heart thudding in his chest. "I have no idea what you're talking about.

"Of course you don't. If you leave now you'll arrive about... thirty seconds before Genji exits the carrier. Tell him I say hey, and that I need to see him for a debrief once the two of you are done," Gabriel stated, slapping Jesse on the back. "And kid? Keep the knee-knocking to a minimum. Good luck."

Gabriel winked, and Jesse was gone.

 

###### 

Jesse had found himself in plenty of fights where he wanted nothing more than to give up and lay in the dirt, braced for whatever fate the heavens above may smite him with. Unfortunately, Jesse was a fighter, and on his lonesome he had no choice but to draw his gun and fire back. These were the moments he dreaded, the moments he craved, the moments that made his stomach twist and his heart race. Jesse had always been a fighter, even on his worst days.

If Jesse was a fighter, Genji was a hot-blooded warrior. In the moments it took Jesse to register the hole in his shoulder, Genji had become a whirlwind of steel and green light. It was hard to tell where Genji began and where his rage ended.

Jesse rolled onto his front, fire flooding his open arteries and hitting the dirt in scarlet sparks. He braced a knee against the ground, then another, and pushed himself upright.

"Hell," he rasped. "Goddammit."

 _Twice in a week,_ he thought. _At least you didn't lose the arm this time._

"Jesse! Down!"

Another shot rang through the air, and the dirt next to Jesse exploded into a cloud of dust. He scrambled away, eyes stinging.

"Are you okay?" Genji yelled.

"Focus on your fight, dammit!"

Someone laughed - Genji or the hunter - and Genji said, "Your concern is cute."

Jesse wondered how Genji could be so brazen in the heat of battle. He didn't really want to know.

There was a great _thud_ as something hit the ground. Jesse looked over his shoulder, but the dust obscured everything apart from a faint green glow. His heart jumped.

"Genji?" he blurted, forcing himself painfully to his feet. "Genji? Where are you? Genji?"

"I am okay, Jesse," Genji said calmly, emerging from the dust, head cocked to one side. "I'm worried about _you_. You're bleeding terribly. Can you walk?"

Jesse nodded, relief beating hot in his chest, and he started to rise. It was not halfway up that his head began to spin, his surroundings blinking in and out of existence. He thumped back to one knee.

"I... I don't know that i can," he answered honestly, the words burning his throat. "I... there's an abandoned ranch up the road, I can try to make it there, but I don't know if I can... I don't know what'll happen once we get there."

Genji crouched at Jesse's side, slid a gentle arm under his shoulders. He pressed his other hand to the bleeding bullet hole, rubbery thumb brushing aside the torn cloth before sliding to Jesse's back.

"There's an exit wound," Genji said. "I won't have to dig for the bullet. I'm not sure that it was an actual bullet, to be honest. The exit wound is a little... charred."

"That's fascinating, darlin', and I'm more than happy to chit-chat, but I dunno how long I'll be able to walk for, and I sure as hell don't trust that guy not to stand up and fire another round," he grunted. With Genji's aid, he made it to his feet, world again spiraling in and out of coherence before settling into a distant calm.

They walked.

"I don't think he'll be getting up for some time," Genji said calmly. "If he gets up at all."

Jesse shot a worried look at Genji, to which he responded with a slight shake of his hea.

"I didn't kill him, but I cut his leg. It... might have been deeper than intended. But he was backing up," Genji said, almost sheepish. "He's well enough to drag himself back to town, believe me. I've seen - and inflicted- enough wounds to know what's fatal and what isn't."

"And mine?"

Genji twitched his head ever so slightly in Jesse's direction; he could imagine those star-spattered eyes roaming Jesse's back, could feel the caress of Genji's gaze as it moved from shoulder to the side of Jesse's scruffy, reddening face.

"You'll be fine. Stiff, but fine."

"Mm. I can deal with stiff."

Genji poked him in the ribs, and Jesse laughed through his pain.

 

###### 

Jesse paced like a lion in a cage. Back and forth, back and forth, so often and with such speed that it was a wonder he had not worn a trench into the floor.

Genji was late. Genji had a tendency to come back late, missions like this were... He liked to cause trouble. Subtly, sometimes, but trouble was trouble, and trouble took time. Jesse preferred it when he was there to guide it - dampen it, fuel it, whatever the situation called for.

Distantly, he heard the soft whir of stealth engines, like a gust of wind tinged with the motorized buzz of a lazy highway. Jesse turned, facing the entrance down. Anxiety bubbled in his chest.

Was Genji okay? He wondered. Gabriel had mentioned a "face boo-boo", whatever that meant. A burn? A cut? A missing eye? The latter could be replaced with ease, of course, but that did not change the fact that Genji would be in significant pain until Doctor Ziegler saw to him.

The two minutes it took the craft to land felt like several hours, each second lengthening to such an extreme degree that Jesse felt he was about to burst into a fit at any moment. The only thing that stopped him was the promise of seeing Genji again, alive and well.

_Thirty seconds my ass._

The craft's doors hissed open, meeting the ground with a loud clack and rattling as Genji walked out. The moment his feet met solid ground, he froze, eyes locked on Jesse.

"McCree?" Genji asked, voice soft, metallic and genuine as it had ever been.

"McCree," Jesse confirmed.

Genji looked around him, scanning the expanding bustle for any sign of prying eyes. Satisfied with whatever he had or hadn't found, he bolted forward, slamming into Jesse's chest with force that didn't seem quite fair, force that drove the breath from Jesse's lungs.

He rested his hands awkwardly on Genji's head. His fingers almost disappeared in Genji's mane of dark hair. Genji did not jerk away from Jesse's touch. Jesse's heart skipped.

"I heard you got into some sort of scuffle," Jesse said. Genji's bare arm was littered with fresh bruises, but Jesse had not yet seen Genji's face.

"Yes," came the response, muffled by Jesse's chestplate.

"I heard you got some sort of thing on your face?"

"Yes."

"Can I see?" Jesse asked, combing his fingers through Genji's hair.

He pulled away. At first, Jesse thought that he had overwhelmed Genji; then he took Jesse's hand and led him away, out of sight of the craft's crew and into a dimly lit hallway just off the facility.

His mask detached with a hiss, revealing a thick, hastily-stitched cut from Genji's lip to the corner of his eye. A burn covered the side of his nose, cheek, and most of his left eyesocket. Jesse inhaled sharply. 

"I'm sorry..." Genji said weakly. "I was reckless. I was caught off-guard."

"Don't apologize," Jesse said quickly. "By god, don't apologize, Genji. There ain't nothin' wrong with a few scars. Are you okay?"

A muscle in Genji's cheek twitched. A long moment of silence widened between them, and snapped shut when Genji wobbled his head, dark eyes hard with conviction. He was okay. That was all Jesse needed to know.

He rested his hand lightly on Genji's jaw, over the axle that held it in place.

"You look tougher now, anyway. Less like a ninja and more like a..." Jesse grinned. "Like a cowboy. A real rough and tumble one."

Genji punched him in the shoulder, a smile threatening to break his stony countenance.

"Not in your life, Jesse McCree."

 

###### 

"Is it all patched up now?" Jesse asked, eyes fixed firm on the ceiling above. "No more blood? Stitches all in?"

"You bet," Genji answered, ruffling Jesse's hair. Jesse shot him a look. Genji sat smugly.

His hand fell from Jesse's hair, a knuckle gently brushing his cheek on the way down. He looked at Genji - soft, warm Genji with a grin so wide it had to hurt - and he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face.

"I missed you," he said softly. "So much."

Genji's eyes wandered the room, from the peeling paint to the cracked window.

"I wish I had been around. I could have stopped you from deciding this was a good safehouse," he teased. Jesse jabbed his knee into Genji's elbow.

"I'm serious, Genji. I missed you. I'm glad you went and I'm glad you're happy now, but it was a lonely few years. All I had was Peacekeeper and jabbering criminals to keep me company." Jesse took a deep, shaky breath. "And your letters, when I got them."

There was a pause as Genji took that information in. His oaken eyes continued to roam from broken fixture to broken fixture, barely skimming over Jesse.

Jesse took this time to admire Genji. New scars peppered his face like scuffs in a road. Many had faded, but a few were fresh pink, scars Genji must have earned in the past year and a half; scars that Jesse desperately wanted to trace, and scars that he would not, no matter how badly the urge nagged him.

"Genji?" Jesse asked gently.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you... why did you come? To America? Why now?"

Genji broke his focus from the splintered walls. His gaze felt heavy upon Jesse's chest, but they locked eyes anyway. The smile on Genji's face tilted. 

"To find you."


	4. story of the heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 4 - old times/new times (or something. this whole fic is this prompt innit)

His skin was hot to the touch. He tried to ignore it, for Genji's sake, but the heat had begun to throb. When he touched it, pain raced through him like a bolt through the sky. But he walked as Genji's side through the dry countryside, swiping dust from his pants as it gathered.

"Jesse?" Genji said cautiously. Jesse grunted response. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but what happened to your arm? You never wrote about it."

Jesse inhaled sharply.

"It's... a long story," he answered. "And I don't know that you would like it."

"I don't suspect that I would enjoy any story that ends in you losing a limb. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was only curious."

Genji brushed his fingertips against the ridge of Jesse's knuckles. Where he would have enjoyed the sensation any other time, today it sent a jagged shock of pain up his arm, the hole in his shoulder pulsing meanly. He grit his teeth.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to fill Genji in, but it wouldn't be easy, if not due to the fact that his mind was all over the place. He doubted he could link two sentences together without tripping over his own tongue. He told Genji as much.

"Give me time to organize my thoughts. I'll tell you when we get to the next safehouse. Y'all got any stories to fill the time?"

A hum buzzed in Genji's throat before emerging in a quick chirp. "I do. It's more like reliving a memory we both experienced, though. Silly as it sounds, I never did get to thank you for it."

"Oh?"

 

###### 

The burn on his face ached. Doctor Ziegler had done her best to heal him, but she had confessed to being unsure of Genji's ability to heal. He scarred easy, apparently, and what she had managed to patch was purely aesthetic; his nerves would remain singed until his body could find the strength to treat itself.

Which would take awhile. Supposedly. Genji thought that it was a flimsy excuse and a flimsy way to hide whatever superior had ordered her away from his hurt, from whatever use that hurt might generate. His heart ached.

He sat in his quarters, hands folded in his lap, jaw firmly set. Empty space surrounded him, his room nothing more than the bed he had been provided and a dresser full of clothes he knew he could not wear. Genji had not seen a reason to decorate his room, nor had he anything to decorate it with. It was empty, sad, devoid of any signs of life apart from a rumpled bed sheet and a cyborg sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor.

A soft knock echoed in the emptiness. Genji sighed.

"Come in."

A fuzzy head poked into the room, smiling kindly. Genji felt his own lips twitch beneath his mask.

"Just thought I'd check on ya, make sure you're feelin' alright," Jesse stated, slipping through the crack in the door before closing it behind him. He leaned against the wall, back arched just enough that he didn't bump the light switch.

Not that it would have mattered, Genji could see in the dark with no issue.

"I... appreciate it," he said stiffly.

Jesse cocked his head, hand on his hat, and hummed lowly. He sounded like a purring cat; to be fair, he always did, that voice of his low and honey-smooth...

When first Genji had met Jesse - before Hanzo had stolen Genji's body from him - it had been a voice that made Genji's heart flutter. He had not known Jesse then, hadn't known anything more than his voice and his foolish dress. He was honored to know him now.

"You sound down," Jesse said as if he were walking onto melting ice. "Anything I don't know about that you care to tell me? Or is it the burns?"

Genji did not answer at first, unsure if he should, unsure if he knew how. In truth? It was a little bit of both. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't sure that the man he had been assigned to kill had deserved it, and he wondered if these burns upon his face confirmed such a thing.

"Jesse?"

"What is it, peach?"

"Do you ever doubt yourself? Your abilities? Or are you always so confident?"

Jesse pushed off the wall and lowered himself to his knees at Genji's feet, a wrinkle forming between his dark brows and his lips pursed.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean what I asked. Your confidence, is that something you can never shake, or do you have moments where you cannot summon it? Do you ever think that you didn't do enough in the time you were given?" Genji continued, balling his hands into fists. He wanted to strike the ground, to feel the synthetic muscle that laced his prosthetic hand stretch, strain, snap. It might hurt, but he wanted it, needed it.

Jesse reached into his pocket, pulling a toothpick from the depths and placing it lightly at the corner of his mouth. He shifted into a sitting position and he hummed again, rolling that toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.

"All the time, if I'm being honest," he answered slowly. "I don't think this is a job that'll ever convince you you've done enough. Someone's always gonna come out of it angry at you, and you have to live with that. So no, I'm not this confident all the time. I'm barely this confident when I _am_ this confident."

Genji lifted his brow, and Jesse patted him on the knob of his knee.

"You did great on your mission, you know. I don't think you have anything to be worried about," Jesse said, grinning broadly. His toothpick hung from his mouth, dislodged by the width of his smile. Genji's heart skipped a beat.

"I understand."

"If you ever need to talk, I'm usually in my room. Or, you know, training. But then, you're usually right there with me," Jesse said. He staggered to his feet, catching himself against the wall before he could topple like a domino.

Genji smiled.

 

They stood at the steps of the newest safehouse, a scant improvement upon all the rest: this one had an indoor bathroom and a running faucet, at least for now. It wasn't technically free real estate, and Jesse did not like to stay here when he could avoid it, but sometimes a man needed a nice shower with soap _and_ shampoo. If he'd been able to stand without his legs quaking, he would've bolted for the bathroom the minute he stepped inside.

"I didn't know that conversation meant so much to you," Jesse said, nudging the door closed behind him. Genji shrugged, light glinting off his shoulderblade.

"There are a lot of things that mean more to one person than they do the other, and that's fine. I have no doubt you have those memories of me," Genji said, a casual smile on his lips.

"Yeah," Jesse murmured. "I do."

He remembered the bar, Genji's head on his shoulder and music thrumming in the background. He remembered the taste of alcohol on his tongue and the heat that clawed his cheeks. Jesse had thought about it often these past few days. It didn't seem plausible that Genji would remember it the same way.

"Any that you care to tell me about?"

Jesse huffed in amusement.

"I'd love to, but I ain't feelin' so hot."

He lowered himself onto the couch, knees protesting before he finally fell back with a gasp and a pained wince. His shoulder throbbed, and Genji was by his side before Jesse could even try to touch the wound.

"Let me see," Genji prompted, that metallic voice of his impossibly gentle. Jesse obliged easily, peeling his shirt back over the hole in his shoulder.

His brown skin was shot through with red, tendrils sneaking to and from the hastily patched hole in his arm, and pulsing like the desert sun. It took everything in him to not turn away, to retain his composure and whistle lowly.

"That doesn't look too good," he joked. Genji gave him a stern look.

He held Jesse's shirt back with his pinky finger, and with the rest he poked and prodded, as if challenging Jesse to whimper like a struck kitten. He only allowed himself to ball his hands into fists and breath through his teeth, cool air scalding his gums.

Genji sat, dropping his hands into his lap.

"You don't have to pretend to be tough for me," he said, head cocked to the side. "It's okay to not be confident. If you have to scream, scream. If you have to hit... try not to, but if the urge if overwhelming, you can certainly try. I'll dodge, but you can give it a go."

A laugh built at the back of Jesse's throat, weak and bubbling. He looked away, took a long, deep breath, and looked back.

"Fine. I'll consider this payment for old times' sake," he said. "C'mon now, do whatever you gotta do."

Genji nodded.

"Brace yourself. Here we go."


	5. when you bleed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 5 - promises/secrets

"You think it's gonna heal this time?"

"I hope so."

That was as good an answer as Jesse was probably gonna get. Genji was no Ziegler, and he sure as hell wasn't an Amari; healing wasn't his field, even if his voice could patch Jesse's feelings faster than an ice cold whiskey. Entirely different strokes, entirely different wounds.

"Last time it didn't get much of a chance to heal," Jesse said, his voice curling in on itself. He closed his eyes, chest expanding with a breath that stretched the skin around the wound, he exhaled until his lungs ached for air.

Genji's hand covered Jesse's, warm metal on hot flesh, the rubber grips on his palm pressing gently into Jesse's skin. It was a grasp that Jesse remembered most often as desperate or angry or afraid, but he decided that he liked its modern kindness better - that he liked Genji _happy_ more than anything.

"I know the feeling," Genji replied, drawing circles into Jesse's hand. "One moment you have it, the next its gone."

Jesse nodded. "Yeah. Exactly that."

"Yes. I know the feeling. I know the pain and the confusion. It'll always be there, I won't pretend otherwise," Genji said, massaging Jesse's palm now. "But flesh does not a person make. Understand that."

Jesse stared across the room, unable to meet Genji's eye. He knew that the moment he did, he would not be able to stem the tears. And he thought that the tears would not be warranted, that he would not deserve them.

"It's not necessarily that," Jesse said softly. "It's... it hurts. Often. And I dream about it, sometimes, I dream about the bullet and the blast and waking up alone, cuffed to a hospital bed. Gabriel would've been there if he'd been alive, but I-"

He inhaled sharply. "It's silly stuff and I know it. I know that. I know it's stupid to mourn the loneliness over the arm, or to focus on it in any case, but I- I can't help it. I miss everyone. Captain Amari, the Strike-Commander, Gabriel... I can't help but feel like I should've done more. That's all I could think about in that hospital bed. _I deserve this._ I _know_ I don't. The thought haunts me. _I deserve this. This is what I deserve. I had this coming._

"And I know that ain't how it works. I nag myself with the fact every day, every time those thoughts crop up. But they still do, and I don't know how to get rid of 'em. Truth is, Genji, I miss the life I left behind more than I miss the person I was. I don't know if that makes sense, but there it is," Jesse concluded. His lower lip quivered, and his eyes burned.

What followed was a silence that Jesse found unbearable, a silence he avoided yelling into by the skin of his teeth. It was a silence that made his heart tumble and trip. It felt like hours compacted into a few meager seconds.

Genji squeezed Jesse's hand. "Do you remember our last conversation before I left?"

Jesse frowned, then shook his head. "Don't dig those memories up. You deserve better than that."

"I know," Genji stated. "I know that. I'm not a charity case, Jesse, and neither are you. All I ask is that you think about it. Consider what you told me after. Consider it for yourself."

 

"So you're goin'?" Jesse asked, soft as velvet. "To the monks?"

"Yes," Genji responded.

Jesse nodded. "I'm glad. I'll write you. Promise you'll write back?"

"To the best of my ability."

Jesse smiled.

"Take care of yourself, Genji."


	6. dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcgenji week 2k18 day 6 - dreams/fears

In an ideal world, Jesse would never have had to go through the pain of losing Genji. In an ideal world, Jesse would've met Genji at a bar somewhere, or maybe that arcade Genji spoke so highly of, and Genji would never have suffered the way he had. Jesse? Jesse could cope with his suffering. Genji deserved better.

It was this thought that woke him that day, a whole week after he'd been shot. Genji stretched across the end of the bed, the tips of his fingers and the lower half of his legs hanging off the sides.

A smile tugged as Jesse's lips. He almost didn't want to wake him up.

He prodded Genji's shoulder with his palm, almost laughing when Genji whined in protest. Jesse leaned aside as Genji turned, stretching his limbs in four directions. When he went limp, Jesse lowered himself onto his elbow.

"Wake up, sweetheart," Jesse said in a tone soft as down. "Genjiiiii... Genji, wake up."

Genji squeaked as he rolled onto his back, the sound fading swiftly into the air.

"Don't want to. Haven't slept like that in a long time," he mumbled, draping his arm over his eyes. Jesse bumped Genji again.

"Wake up, Genji, c'mon."

Genji slapped Jesse's hand away, to which Jesse responded with a bark of a laugh.

"Touchy, touchy. Come on, you have to pack."

"Eh? For what?"

Jesse cocked a brow, heart skipping in his chest.

"To leave, you know the protocol. We've been here for a week now and I figure you have other things to do. I don't want you to be late to 'em by my cause," Jesse said, shifting awkwardly on the bed. He did not want Genji to go, but he knew well enough that Genji ought to leave if he wanted to dodge the bulletfire.

Slowly, Genji rose, until he leaned back on his hands with his legs folded before him, a picture perfect example of relaxation. Jesse, with his throbbing shoulder and a fever to match, felt stiff by comparison, like a scarecrow on a metal pole.

"You seem to be in a rush to get me out of here," Genji joked. Jesse's returning smile fractured.

"God, no. I just... think that you should, for your safety."

"Hmm."

A long silence hung between them, stiff but not altogether uncomfortable. Jesse plucked at the fuzz on the bedsheets as Genji thought - or Jesse thought that Genji was thinking. Sometimes it was very hard to tell what went on in Genji's head.

"I had a dream last night," Genji blurted.

Jesse folded his arms on the sheets, fully prepared to settle in for a story. It wasn't exactly like Genji to go on a spiel, but Jesse that the Genji lounging in front of him now had developed new habits, new quirks, each and every one capable of wiggling its way into Jesse's heart regardless of how pleasant it actually was. A spiel would not be so bad if it came to him shaped by Genji's voice.

Genji started slow.

"It was one of those dreams where the first thing you do is wake up, and a little part of your brain wonders if it's real, and if it would be worth being real," he said. "I ended up sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of food in front of me, and across from me was you. You didn't say anything, you just ate. We sat in silence, eating our breakfasts and reading our papers, and that was the whole dream. Quite dull by dream standards, but I liked it a lot."

He tried to picture that. The last time he had eaten breakfast with Genji had been back at Blackwatch HQ, and it had been the usual morning sludge. Filling, but ultimately flavorless - it was a trend at that point in Jesse's life, from exhausting missions to dreamless nights. Drab, but familiar.

"What kind of breakfast?" Jesse asked.

"Typical American breakfast, I think. Bacon, eggs, waffles. I know i was dream food because it was actually good. I'd have it again," answered Genji. He threw his head back as he laughed, shoulders rocking, and Jesse's chest clenched.

"I wish I could make you a mediocre version now and send you off with a... almost nice memory."

Genji's laughter stuttered into silence, and for a moment it hung tensely between them.

"Jesse."

"Mm?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

_No,_ Jesse thought. _No, I don't want you to leave. I don't want to watch you go and never see you again. I couldn't bear it._

"I want you to be safe," he said, each word firm, but careful. There were buttons he did not want to jam, lines he didn't want to push. What he wanted was to be as honest as possible without revealing the desperate yearning deep in his chest.

Genji's hand came to rest upon Jesse's cheek, and a jolt ran through him; his heart, as it had so often these past weeks, beat fast, and his cheeks reddened once more. Knowing that this might be the last time Genji held him so close, he leaned into that hand, willing it closer than it could physically come.

"That's not what I asked."

Jesse forced a smile. "I know, pumpkin. C'mon, let's make sure you've got everything you need."

 

Genji didn't have much; his weapons, his outfit, his faceplate and a couple of hip pouches. It took twenty minutes to gather it all, most of that time padded by a thick silence and unnecessary breaks.

At the end of it, Genji rose to his feet and met Jesse's eyes. It lasted a moment before Jesse broke away.

"I'll walk you to the nearest road," he said, massaging his busted shoulder. Heat seeped through the fabric of his shirt. "And we'll split there. Promise you'll write me?"

"I promise I'll try," Genji responded. "Let's go."

And they walked, the silence falling thick upon their shoulders even as the heat tried to smother them. The walk tried to suffocate him, but Jesse distracted himself from it by admiring the landscape of scrubby pines and stubbly yellow grass.

He admired Genji, too, when Genji wasn't looking. It amazed Jesse how much and how little he had changed since Blackwatch. Physically, he was almost the same, bar a patchy shadow of facial hair and greys lacing his temples, but the way he presented himself... The weight of his world had been lifted from his shoulders, and it warmed Jesse to his core. By god, did Genji deserve that relief, and by god would Jesse have liked to admire it longer.

They came to a halt by an old bus stop. Genji turned to face Jesse and Jesse watched as he moved, jaw clenched.

"Jesse," Genji prodded.

"Yes?"

"Are you _sure_ that you want me to go?"

Jesse heart seized. He forced himself to look away, hardly wanting Genji to see the emotion welling behind his eyes. A light breeze tickled his cheeks before picking up, stirring the hair around his ears and with a sudden gust swiping his hat from him. He whipped around to grab it, coming nose-to-nose with Genji, who held the cap over his head.

They stood there, centimeters apart in pure silence. Jesse swallowed his pride, and he broke.

"I don't want you to go. I know you have to if you wanna be safe, but I just... Ever since Blackwatch... no, before Blackwatch, at the very beginning of Blackwatch, just... ever since I met you, I've... it's been..."

A smile spread over Genji's lips, and before Jesse could respond to it, those lips were on his. At first, he didn't register what was happening, too stunned by the sudden closeness to form a proper response. Genji pulled himself away before Jesse could sort himself out, just when he felt his face start to heat like a growing flame.

"When have I ever cared about my safety, Jesse McCree?" Genji challenged with a grin like the devil.

Jesse's mouth twitched upward. "Fair enough. Genji, I-"

A finger rested upon his lips.

"I know," said Genji, and Jesse's heart soared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for bearing w me!! a lot of this fic was experimentation w dialogue (which i think was a general success) & just like. Characterization. making up lore ovw doesnt have. yet again i apologize for not being able to do day 7 (beyond a text post on my tumblr at MOST). i don't like to make up excuses but here are mine: this summer? emotionally wack. this week? i have an awful cold and i couldn't actually write if i tried.
> 
> anyway, thank you so much for reading! stan mcgenji


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